Elderly and physically disabled persons and small children often require assistance in moving about. Walkers and canes are two devices typically used to provide such assistance. Of the two, walkers provide more stability to the user. Due to the size and general structure, most walkers tend to be bulky and cumbersome to carry or store.
There are several types of walkers available today, each offering a variety of features. Some walkers have wheels or casters, some of those have brake assemblies. Some walkers also have seats. In addition, some walkers are foldable. Most foldable walkers are constructed of lightweight or cheap materials. Moreover some walkers are designed to be easily collapsible and tend to collapse unexpectedly often injuring the user and damaging the walker. Most collapsible walkers known in the art do not offer the structural integrity needed to support the user. Walkers that do provide structural integrity only partially fold and are still considerably bulky and cumbersome to carry and store in their folded positions. Walkers that have wheels and hand brake assemblies are less conducive to folding due to the increased complexity of the design and increased number of parts. For example, walkers having hand brake assemblies are difficult to include in a foldable walker because the hand brake, cable and wheel brake assemblies must remain undisturbed when the walker is folded.
There is a need for a walker that collapses and folds to a compact size that is easy to carry and store.
There is a further need for a collapsible walker having structural integrity.